The National Anthems of Canada and the U.S. – Teaching History

Fall 2007
H
ello Teachers!
It has been a busy six months since our last edition but we hope you are eager for the curriculum
and resource ideas introduced in this issue. Our focus is
elementary level teachers although many teachers will still
find benefit from knowing more about Canada’s national
anthem and symbols. Since our last edition, we introduced teachers from across
the USA to a wide variety of curriculum and resource ideas
for teaching about Canada through workshops and displays.
Our annual STUDY CANADA Summer Institute: Experience BC
from the 5 Themes of Geography to the 2010 Olympics was
a resounding success and, in celebration of the workshop’s
30th anniversary in June 2008, we anticipate that the
best is yet to come! It is never too early to register, so we
hope you’ll learn more about the program by visiting www.
k12studycanada.org/scsi.shtml.
The Jackson School of International Studies Title VI and Outreach Centers held their annual Summer Seminar entitled,
“Teaching World Religions” at the same time. Participants
were introduced to Canadian aboriginal spirituality and
culture by Professor Charlotte Coté, who gave educators
an insight into the Nuu-chah-nulth whaling traditions on
Vancouver Island.
And, last spring, Visiting Northwest Québec Scholar, Dr.
Thierry Giasson, Université Laval, offered the annual professional training to UW in the High School French Educators. Enseigner le français: La société québécoise comme
outil didactique trained Washington State educators for
teaching UW accredited high school courses and was a
great success. It featured presentations by UW Canadian
Center graduate affiliates Natalie Debray, Tim Pasch and
Cody Case and included a special visit by Denis Turcotte,
Québec Government Representative in L.A.
K-12 STUDY CANADA outreach has been growing. If
you attend the 2007 National Council for Social Studies
Conference in San Diego, for example, you will find K-12
STUDY CANADA represented in the International Alley of
the Exhibit Hall, in a Sunday workshop session, at the
International Film Festival (where a series of short films
from Québec—including The Sweater—will be featured).
We have also been working closely with NCSS to increase
Canada’s profile with its general membership so you can
expect an even higher profile at the 2008 NCSS Conference in Houston. Additional regional outreach is ongoing—from Washington to Texas and New Hampshire to Minnesota—via
our network of K-12 STUDY CANADA Teacher Associates.
Having regional teachers give presentations on Canada
and serve as local contacts for educators interested in
teaching about Canada is an invaluable extension of our own
work. A full list of “T-A’s” is online at the www.k12studycanada.org site but we’d like to thank the newest “recruits”
for joining our network: Richard Delamater (Windermere,
FL), Kay Geiger (Lubbock, TX), Jan Hertel (Hastings, MN),
Jessica Winkelaar (Minneapolis, MN), Deb Blake (Hampton,
NH), and Karen Boschker (Issaquah, WA). We’d also like
to congratulate Karen Boschker, French language teacher
at Liberty High School, for receiving a 2007 Summer Scholarship to Québec award from the American Association for
Teachers of French, funded by the Ministère des Relations
Internationales du Québec.
And finally, we also encourage teachers to make regional
connections with the Embassy of Canada in Washington,
DC or one of the twenty Consulates General or Consulates
of Canada offices http://geo.international.gc.ca/canam/washington/offices/default-en.asp for the complete
list]. The Government of Canada is supportive of outreach
to K-12 teachers and can share many useful resources for
the classroom with you. We all hope that, as global awareness grows increasingly important, we can help American
students be more knowledgeable about our northern
neighbor.
Tina Storer, Western Washington University
Nadine Fabbi, University of Washington
The National Anthems of Canada and the U.S. – Teaching History through Music
by Nadine Fabbi
The U.S. national anthem has a significant connection to Canada-U.S. history. In 1812, near the end
of the Napoleonic Wars in Europe, the U.S. declared
war on Great Britain and struck out at Britain’s only
possession on the continent – Canada! The U.S.
was frustrated with Britain’s heavy-handedness on
the high seas (Britain, in an effort to stop supply
ships to France, intercepted many non-French ships,
particularly American ones). This, in part, led to the
War of 1812 and the inspiration behind the “StarSpangled Banner.”
NATIONAL ANTHEM/HYMNE NATIONAL O CANADA
During the War of 1812, British and Canadian troops
attacked Washington, D.C., burning the White House
to the ground. The next month, in September of
1814, the troops moved into Baltimore to attack Fort
McHenry. The night of the attack a D.C. lawyer, Francis
Scott Key, was aboard a British ship negotiating for
the release of a civilian prisoner. When he awoke the
following morning he was surprised and deeply moved
to see a huge American flag raised over the Fort. He
pulled a letter out of his pocket and on the back of
it wrote a poem, “The Defense of Fort McHenry” that
would later become the “Star-Spangled Banner.”
Congress passed a law making the song the official
national anthem on 3 March 1931.
Canada’s first “national anthem” (it was never official)
was “The Maple Leaf Forever.” It was written under
much less exciting conditions than “The Star-Spangled
Banner.” In 1867, the year that Canada was founded,
a patriotic contest was held for a national poem. A
school principal from Toronto, Alexander Muir, wanted
to submit an entry but he was at a loss for an inspirational idea. Just days before the competition closed,
Muir was out walking with a friend, George Leslie, when a maple leaf floated down from
a tree and stuck to Leslie’s coat sleeve. ‘There Muir! There’s your text! The maple leaf
is the emblem of Canada! Build your poem on that,’ exclaimed Leslie. (The maple tree
that shed that famous leaf still stands in Toronto and is now part of a city park.)
Like Francis Scott Key, Muir, in a moment of considerable inspiration, composed his
poem almost “on the spot,” submitted it to the contest and “The Maple Leaf Forever”
became Canada’s celebrated song. Until the early 20th century “The Maple Leaf Forever”
and “God Save the Queen” vied for first place as the nation’s anthem. However, neither
was popular in French Canada – “God Save the Queen” for obvious reasons and “The
Maple Leaf Forever” because it mentioned the Conquest of New France by the British.
Instead, “O Canada” would emerge as the most popular
national song beginning in Québec.
In 1880 the Lieutenant Governor of Québec wanted
a special song for the June 24th Saint Jean-Baptiste
celebrations in Québec City. He asked composer Calixa
Lavallée to write the music for a poem by Sir AdolpheBasile Routhier. The song was entitled, “O Canada!”
In 1901 “O Canada” was sung for the first time as the
national anthem by a group of school children welcoming the Duke and Duchess of Cornwall to Canada
(later to be King George V and Queen Mary). The lyrics were originally written in French and, while there
were several English translations, the one that “took
hold” was written by Robert Stanley Weir in 1908.
(Like Scott Key, Weir was a lawyer and amateur poet.)
By the mid-20th century “O Canada” was accepted as
the national anthem and officially adopted on 1 July
1980 (Canada Day).
It is interesting how interpretations of the national
anthems have impacted culture and history in both
countries. For example, there have been many creative
interpretations of “The Star Spangled Banner.” These
include the bluesy rendition by Jose Feliciano and the
rock version by Jimi Hendrix, both performed in the
1960s, and the more recent 1991 Super Bowl interpretation by Whitney Houston that put the national anthem
on the pop charts for the first time in history.
An historic “first” occurred in Canada just this last
February when a 13-year-old Cree girl from Alberta
sang the national anthem in an aboriginal language
at a National Hockey League game. Traditionally the
singer will alternate between French and English to
acknowledge the linguistic duality of the country. But
in this case, Akina Shirt opened the game with a fantastic rendition of “O Canada”
in Cree to a sold-out crowd at the Saddledome in Calgary. The performance was also
viewed by hundreds of thousands of Canadians tuned in to Hockey Night in Canada on
television and was a hit across the country.
Exploring the history of our national anthems can tell our students much about CanadaU.S. relations (the War of 1812), how inspiring moments created enduring symbolism
(Scott Key and Muir), and how a nation sees itself (in the various renditions of the
anthems – all available on YouTube!). National symbols or songs are an excellent starting
point for teaching students about history and culture in North America.
Fall 2007 Presentations
and Displays on Canada
World Affairs Council: Classroom on the World
Trade & Immigration with Mexico and Canada
October 9 (4-7pm) at Bates Technical College (Tacoma, WA)
Washington Association for Language Teachers
La Langue, La Culture et la Sociéte Québécoises
October 11-13: Coast Wenatchee Center (Wenatchee, WA)
Washington State Council for the Social Studies
Canada in the Classroom
K-12 STUDY CANADA Exhibit
October 13: Edmonds-Woodway HS (Edmonds, WA)
Texas Council for the Social Studies
What Do You Know About Our Neighbor to the North? Oct 19-21: Marriott Hotel (El Paso, TX) New Hampshire State Council for the Social Studies
National Resource Centers for Canada Exhibit
October 30: Center for New Hampshire (Manchester, NH)
Association for Canadian Studies in the United States
NRC Outreach and Building a Teacher-Training
Network in the US November 14-18: Westin Harbour Castle (Toronto, ON)
Canada in the Classroom: K-12 Resources
A Musical Journey Across Canada by Canadian songwriter and teacher Kim
Soleski Ward
Sing a Song of Canada (songbook with activities and
CD with 26 songs)
Sing a Song of Canada is a wonderful classroom
tool for teaching Canada through music in Grades
K-6. Kim Soleski Ward (a Canadian who teaches
music at Gates and Merriam Elementary Schools in
Acton, Massachusetts) created it at the request of
a 4th grade teacher to help with the social studies unit on Canada mandated in state curriculum
guidelines.
Ten years in the making, Sing a Song of Canada
draws upon Kim’s background in both music
therapy and music education. Kim earned both
a B.A. (Music) from the University of Kansas
and M.Ed. from Cambridge College and worked
as a Registered Music Therapist before becoming a classroom teacher. Even when she moved into
traditional music education where music knowledge
and skills are the primary objectives, Kim always
incorporated extra-musical objectives in curriculum.
Thus, Sing a Song of Canada has a two-fold design—for
the music teacher, the music improves skills such as
singing, playing instruments, writing musical symbols
and reading notes; for the classroom teacher, the
lyrics help teach the history, geography and culture
of Canada and songbook activities reinforce learning
National Council for the Social Studies
2 Borders; 3 Nations: Learning about our N.
American Neighbors National Resource Centers for Canada Exhibit
(International Alley)
International Film Festival (featuring short films from Québec)
November 29-December 2: Convention Center (San Diego, CA)
International Studies Schools Association
North American Stewardship
February 7-9 – Westin Northwest Chicago Hotel
(Itasca, IL)
To order: Email [email protected] or write to Kim
Soleski Ward, 5 Crescent Lane, Sudbury, MA 01776.
Cost: $30 Songbook; $10 Music CD; $3 Shipping.
K-12 STUDY CANADA is a biannual publication of the Pacific Northwest
National Resource Center for Canada (NRC) - a joint center linking the
Canadian Studies Center, Henry M. Jackson School of International
Studies, University of Washington to the Center for Canadian-American
Studies, Western Washington University. The NRC offers quarterly
workshops on specific Canadian topics; the annual, week-long STUDY
CANADA seminar held the last week of June, and; an extensive Resource
Library for the use of local educators. The NRC is funded through a Title
VI Grant from the U.S. Department of Education and an annual Program
Enhancement Grant from the Canadian Embassy, Washington, D.C.
Return Service Requested
All of the students in Kim’s school district now learn
the names of Canada‘s provinces, territories and
capitals by singing “Can Can Canada” in their social
studies classrooms while music specialists expand on
the material musically with Orff arrangements and
recorders as instruments. What a fun way to teach to
learn! Other titles include “First Among Equals” (about
the prime ministers of Canada), “Train Dogs” (based
on a poem by Canadian First Nations poet Pauline
Johnson), and “My Dewlap” (a fun look at the annual
life cycle of the moose).
The compilation offers up a complete curriculum unit.
The CD makes the music come alive and teachers can
reproduce the activity pages and sheet music in the
songbook. The CD includes 21 original compositions
by Kim, 4 Canadian folk songs, and the Canadian
national anthem. Because Sing a Song of Canada has
been kid-tested in music and social studies classrooms
(and can cross-over into other curriculum units such
as habitats, Native culture, and French language), we
have added it to our K-12 STUDY CANADA Resource
Valise loan-kits and are happy to recommend its purchase for your own classroom!
MN Humanities Commission/Consulate General of Canada, Minneapolis
Canada’s Cultural Mosaic
January 14-15: (Minneapolis, MN)
University of Washington
Canadian Studies Center
Jackson School of International Studies
Box 353650
Seattle, WA 98195-3650
through drawing, writing, puzzles
and various forms of musical expression.